Convert a Mailbox

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Shell to convert a mailbox to a different type of mailbox. You can convert the following:

User mailbox to shared mailbox

User mailbox to resource mailbox

Shared mailbox to user mailbox

Shared mailbox to resource mailbox

Resource mailbox to user mailbox

Resource mailbox to shared mailbox

You can't use this procedure to convert a user mailbox to a linked mailbox or a linked mailbox to a user mailbox. For instructions about how to convert to a linked mailbox, see Convert Linked Mailboxes.

A scenario in which you may want to convert a mailbox is if you have moved resource mailboxes from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2010. In Exchange 2003, you use shared mailboxes to represent resources. When you move these mailboxes to Exchange 2010, they will be Exchange 2010 shared mailboxes. You must convert them from Exchange 2010 shared mailboxes to Exchange 2010 resource mailboxes so that they will have all the properties of Exchange 2010 resource mailboxes.